Stopper.



T. 0. SPELLING.

' STOPPER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 18, I916.

Patented Nov. 14, 1916.

Tran STAT FATE orrron.

THOMAS C. SPELLING, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

STOPPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 14, 1916.

Application filed July 18, 1916. Serial No. 109,922.

fication.

This invention relates to improvements in stoppers made of cork, or other yieldable substance, and has for a main object the provision of a stopper which may e readily extracted, unimpaired, to enable repeated use of the same, and to eliminate the ordinary and necessary use of the implement known as a corkscrew, or the like, with its attending liability to tear or break, and consequently destroy,.the stopper as an effective sealing agent for bottles or other containers of liquids.

Another, and veryimportant, purpose is to form a combination between the sealing and preservative arts, in other words, to render their application in the case of stoppers mutually beneficial instead of being, as at present, mutually destructive.

The purpose is accomplished by the insertion in a well, formed from the top to a point near the bottom of the stopper, two rounded members resembling, when placed together, a cone, two halves of said parts carrying, exteriorly, shoulders or shelves to indent the adjacent sides of the wall of the well upon the application of a spreading force between them, in combination with the pull means hereinafter described, for extracting the stopper. The objection found to devices which operate frictionally through the instrumentality of prongs, barbs, etc., that the latter are liable to cut their way out, leaving the mutilated stopper in the container, is here anticipated and provided against by the employment of means which utilize to the uttermost the resisting power of the stopper substance.

This device will be simpler to construct and more effective than any new in use, and the parts can be economically manufactured; nor will it require peculiar skill to assemble the parts.

To facilitate a full and complete understanding of the invention, I will illustrate the preferred embodiment of the same, together with an additional or modified embodiment thereof, and. the details in the arrangement and combination of parts will be appreciated from a reading of the specific description hereinafter contained, in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof, wherein said preferred and modified embodiments are illustrated. 1

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a bottle neck and stopper showing my improvement inv place.

Fig. 2 is 'a top view of said rounded members in place; Fig. 3 is a bottom view of the same, said members being of identical form, but faced oppositely when in place. Fig. 4 is an interior perspective view of one of said members showing the parts thereof in detail. Fig. 5 is a stem for insertion between the parts just mentioned, carrying. the cap to be presently described as folded up in the act of extraction. Fig. 6 is a modification of the invention.

Referring more specifically to the draw ings, wherein like reference characters designate correspondmg parts 1n the several views, A representsthe material of which a stopper of usual formation and conventional shape is formed, although the device may be modified and adjusted toany of the various forms of stoppers. The stopper is provided with a circular opening, B, here termed a well, made from the top of the stopper, as at C, and terminating in the lower portion thereof, as at D, so that said well does not pass through the body of the stopper but is confinedentirely therewithin, to the end that the sealing characteristic of the stopper shall not be impaired.

E represents a stem of the general form shown in Fig. 5, a little thicker in its lower than in its upper portion and having the shoulder F to contact with similar but opposite shoulders Grin the rounded members. On the interior sides of the rounded members, and oppositely disposed, are trenches H in which the stem moves to place.

At I the stem is suitably connected with the cap (Fig. 5).

Two closely related, sharply edged shoulders are shown at U. These shoulders have a main circular form which is modified however by two oppositely disposed rounded extensions J which, when in place, intrude into the corresponding semicircular recesses K in the wall of the well and extend from the top thereof to L. The purpose of projaw N. The rounded members are temporarily spread apart, the elasticity of the substance of the stopper allowing an adequate recession of the wall for the purpose. The enlarged and wedge-shaped end O of the stem having been pressed into the 1nter1or space P, the elastic exterior of the stopper rebounds and impacts all parts of the stem, but not so firmly as to prevent its movement up and down throughout the length of sald interior space. I engaging means whereby the rounded members are joined and the proper 'almement and coaction of all the parts secured and maintained. Said coengagijng parts Q form a floor upon which said wedge-shaped end of the stem rests from the time of its 1nsertion to the time when the stopper 1s to be extracted. The cap, R (Fig, 5) compr1sing the wings S, is formed of yieldable metal or other substance and is suitably attached to the stem at its top. The extremities of the wings, T, will, upon contact with the uppermost rim of the container, spring outwardly upon the application of downward pressure and rebound to normal positlon when said extremities reach the under shelf of the rim. In the act of extracting the stopper, the wings may be doubled back, uponeach other, and the fingers, or a suitable tool inserted beneath them. Another utility of the'capis to preserve the cleanhness of the stopper, and still another is to provide appropriate space upon which trade marks or trade names may be stamped or printed. The act of extraction is completed by pulling thestem upward until its shouldered part contacts with the interior shouldered parts of the rounded members and continuing the upward pressure. The clownward movement of the stem and its continuing pressure upon the other members causes the sharp edges of the shoulders to indent the substance of the stopper and all the interior members 'of the device to be firmly and tightly wedged. p

I By the above described disposition of the force applied when the stopper is extracted, an important part of the force is diverted from a line along the center to points of pressure on the outer surface ofthe stopper At Q and 'atfQ, are co-' by the inner surface of the bottle neck. The form of a short tapered cork is used in the illustrations. For longer tapered corks, and for straight corks, more shoulders must be employed, and they must extend farther down on the body of the core, and it may be given such increased length as is required. The modification (Fig. 6) exhibits the shouldered parts of the rounded members without said extensions J. In many forms of use the impact between the wall of the stopper and shoulders of the rounded members will be adequately intense to insure extraction without the reinforcement of said extensions and recesses.

WVhile have herein set forth special embodiments of the invention, it is with the realization, as will appear to persons skilled in thea'rt to whichit appertains,-that it is capable of embodiment in other forms and devices, as may be in accordance with the claims appended hereto.

I claim: 1

1. An article of the class described, comprising, a stopper having a well formed therein, a core formed of complemental sections insertible in said well, and a pulling means carried by said core. 7

'2. An article of the class described, comprismg a stopper having a well formed therein, a core formed of complemental sections in'sertible in said well, a pulling means carried by said core, said core sections having roughened exterior surfaces, and said core having an increased cross sectional dimension over that of said well.

3. An article of the class described, comprising a stopper having a well formed therein, said well having oppositely recessed portions, a core formed of complemental sections insertible in said well, said core sections having extensions thereon to engage in the recessed portions of said well, said core havinga volume to expand said stopper when inserted therein, and a pulling means carried by said core sections. 4. An article of the class described, comprising, a stopper having a well, formed therein, a core insertible in said well, said core beingformed of complemental sections, said core sections having exterior roughened surfaces, said core sections having recessed inner faces, a shoulder formed by the inner recessed portions, a stem insertible between said core sections in said recesses, a cap carried by said stem, and an enlarged head formed on said stem to coact with the shoulder in pulling said stopper.

5. An article of the class described, comprising, a stopper having a well formed therein, a core formed of complemental sections insertible in said well, said core sec tions being of similar configuration, said sections having recesses formed therein of different proportions to form a shoulder,

Signed at New York city in the county of New York and State of New York, this 3rd day of July, A. D. 1916.

THOMAS C. SPELLING.

extensions from each section to coact With those of the other in forming a bottom for said recess, interlocking means carried by each section for coaction With those of the other, and said core sections having roughened exterior surfaces to impinge against the inner Wall of said Well.

Witnesses:

M. D. QUA'rnNnTz, JEAN GREENBERG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

